{"id":777002631,"date":"2023-02-21T14:07:37","date_gmt":"2023-02-21T17:07:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777002631"},"modified":"2026-04-23T00:27:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T03:27:12","slug":"ipi-may-reach-settlement-in-discrimination-suit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/ipi-may-reach-settlement-in-discrimination-suit","title":{"rendered":"IPI may reach settlement in discrimination suit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The parties have expressed mutual interest in exploring a settlement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Northern Mariana Islands.- Imperial Pacific International<\/strong> (IPI) and Stephen Abonita, a former pit manager at its casino, are considering a settlement in a discrimination and breach of contract lawsuit filed at the US District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The parties have filed a stipulation expressing their mutual interest in exploring a settlement and have requested the adjournment of the proceedings until after a settlement conference scheduled for March 14. Both parties are said to be keen to explore the possibility of resolving the matter without incurring more time and costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abonita\u2019s attorney, Bruce Berline, had told the court<\/a> that his client was paid significantly less than <\/strong>Caucasian and Chinese colleagues because he is Filipino. He claimed Abonita was not compensated for overtime and was penalised for joining protests against the company with other Filipino workers. Abonita was demanding back pay, front pay, emotional distress pay and punitive damages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See also:<\/strong> USA Fanter seeks auction of IPI vehicles<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The parties have expressed mutual interest in exploring a settlement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":19434,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Imperial Pacific International (IPI) and former pit manager Stephen Abonita are exploring a settlement in a discrimination and breach of contract lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands. Abonita alleges he was underpaid due to his Filipino ethnicity, denied overtime, and penalized for protesting, seeking significant damages. Both parties aim to resolve the matter to avoid further time and costs.","focusai_entities":"Imperial Pacific International (IPI), Stephen Abonita, Bruce Berline","focusai_location":"Northern Mariana Islands, USA","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (0.9), compliance_legal (0.98), operator_casino (0.85), investor_analyst (0.92), supplier_vendor (0.75), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"IPI's Financial Exposure?","query":"What is the estimated financial exposure for Imperial Pacific International, considering potential back pay, front pay, emotional distress, and punitive damages, should a settlement not be reached or if the case proceeds to judgment?"},{"label":"Regulatory Implications for IPI?","query":"How might the allegations of discrimination and breach of contract impact Imperial Pacific International's B2C licensing status and regulatory compliance standing within the Northern Mariana Islands, particularly concerning good character and suitability requirements?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,439],"tags":[24134],"class_list":["post-777002631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-legal-news","tag-imperial-pacific-international"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777002631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777002631"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777002631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777002643,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777002631\/revisions\/777002643"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777002631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777002631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777002631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}